Cooperation, Evolution and Personal Relationship inside of the Orthodox Elite in Transylvania (1867-1918). Case Studies.

Ioan Marius Eppel, Babes-Bolyai University, Romanian Academy

During the modern period, Transylvania was integrated in the Habsburg Empire and, as of 1867, in Dualist Hungary. As such, it represented a meeting ground for different ethnic groups (Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, etc.) and denominations (Orthodox, Greek-Catholic, etc.). The Orthodox and cultural centre of Romanian Orthodox Transylvania was in Sibiu, the city that housed the see of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitanate, as well as the most powerful banks, associations, and cultural societies. The Romanian Orthodox elite assumed the role of intercessor between the communities, the higher ecclesiastical institutions, the central government, and the local authorities. This elite led the national and political emancipation movement in the second half of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. In general, the actions of the members of the political and ecclesiastical orthodox elite were seen as the result of their education and professional training, as the influence exerted by their families, the socio-economic environment in which they worked, and the various individual or group strategies they resorted to. In this presentation we will focus on the Orthodox ecclesiastical and political elite, through several case studies. Through these examples, we want to see how personal relationships within the elite have influenced the mediation between the Hungarian Parliament and the non-Hungarian national groups, the mediation between Church and government, the mediation between the Romanian communities in Transylvania and the Hungarian state. The documentary material we have analysed is largely unpublished, a substantial amount of information having been extracted from the historical archives of the archives from Transylvania. Several published collections of documents and studies dating back to that period or to more recent times have also been consulted. Last but not least, we hope that the methodological design of this paper contribute to a better understanding of the Orthodox elite in Transylvania.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 140. Elites Networks: Business, Politics, and Civil Society